How (and why) to become a morning person

Have you tried to become a morning person and failed? This tip will help.

Are you a night owl or a morning person?

My typical schedule has been – go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 6am when one of the three boys comes crawling into bed asking for food or saying the living room has a monster, can I come look. Somewhere between 6am and 8am, the craziness has hit a peak and by the time we leave for school drop-off, I already feel like a frenzied mess. Socks are missing, someone’s shoes aren’t feeling right, someone lost their backpack, and on and on.

I’ve realized that I feel much more calm in the morning and able to handle the chaos if I some time to myself before they wake up, to drink some coffee and finalize the schedule and plans for the day. This is basically the equivalent of suiting up with armor to start the day. I need it!

I Decided To Become A Morning Person, Have You Ever Done That?

So last year, around this time, I decided I would become a morning person. Have you ever decided that? How did it go? It was an utter failure for me.

I created an alarm on my iPhone titled ‘morning person’ and set it for 5 am.

Every morning, it would go off at 5am and I would hit snooze until one of the kids would come wake me up at 6. I never became a morning person. Seriously, that is ridiculous, I hit snooze for one entire year. I was finally honest with myself that my ‘morning person’ alarm was a dead end. I searched high and low for another resource.

(This is an affiliate link, I’d appreciate you buying by clicking on this if you decide to pick up a copy. But, that’s not the reason I’m recommending this book.)

I found an amazing book called Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. It’s helped me become a morning person in the last month and to start off the day with that suit of armor.

How to Start Off a Morning as a Miracle

Here’s how it works:

Start off the night before:

Say your intention (out loud) before you fall asleep, something like “regardless of how tired I feel when I wake up, I will energetically spring out of bed tomorrow morning at 5am to create the life I want.” (I know this might sound a little crazy, but it really works. Try it!)

Make a checklist of what you want to accomplish the next morning

In the morning, at the set time, wake up. Know that the first 5 minutes are the hardest.

Walk across the room to turn off the alarm

Immediately brush your teeth

Drink 1-2 full glasses of water (I like warm water in the cold months)

Have a plan for how you want to spend the hour or 2 before your day swings into high gear.

Silence: the idea of starting the day enjoying your water or coffee and not immediately jumping into electronics – emails, social media, etc

Affirmations: this is basically when you state what you want to be true as if it is already true. Do this out loud in a convincing voice and with a confident posture. (Stay with me here. I know this might sound a little crazy, I thought it was. But it really works!)

Visualization: visualize your goals, dreams and aspirations. What will it feel like, what will it look like, when they come true.

Exercise: get your body moving, even if it’s just for 5 minutes of stretching

Reading: hammer out 5-10 pages of a book you’ve been wanting to read.

Scribing: journaling to brainstorm your ideas, write out your gratitudes, just write as things come to you

Then, I work on the highest priorities for the day. I find if I don’t tackle these early, they keep getting pushed from one day to the next. I try to make these short, achievable tasks that can be accomplished at that hour of the day.

And that’s it, by the time the crazies wake up, I’ve started off with some calm thoughts, a little exercise and already have a sense of accomplishment for some of my highest priorities.